Introduction to services industries policy issues

No economy exists without services industries such as finance, communications, transportation, health care and education. Recently, however, policy makers concerned with the performance of the U.S. economy have focused almost exclusively on manufacturing and trade in manufactured goods. This paper draws on work carried out as part of U.S. National Academy of Engineering project on Technology in Services to identify and discuss policy issues brought forward by: 1) rapid employment and output growth in services industries; 2) problems of measuring and interpreting services productivity growth; and 3) changing patterns of international trade in services trade.